


and yet,

by figure-skating-prompts (orphan_account)



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Getting Together, M/M, Red String of Fate AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2018-06-25
Packaged: 2019-05-28 10:36:08
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15047015
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/figure-skating-prompts
Summary: Originally posted on Tumblr. Prompt: yuzusho; red string of fate au."Yuzuru wasn’t yet old enough to understand what the sudden, light pull against his hand meant. All he knew was that, in one moment, he was standing at the top of the podium, drinking in the sound of the audience cheering for him, and he smiled brightly, already nodding in thanks, unwilling to look away from the crowd."





	and yet,

Yuzuru wasn’t yet old enough to understand what the sudden, light pull against his hand meant. All he knew was that, in one moment, he was standing at the top of the podium, drinking in the sound of the audience cheering for him, and he smiled brightly, already nodding in thanks, unwilling to look away from the crowd.

In the next moment, the child who had won third place skated up to his spot on the podium and stepped on with a bit of difficulty. He was very small, though he really wasn’t that much younger than Yuzuru. He just seemed like he was such a small kid, but Yuzuru turned and faced him, anyway, and held out his hand so that he could shake his hand.

The child–Shoma (Yuzuru had heard everyone saying that his name was one that would be remembered)–looked up at Yuzuru with a wide, owlish sort of expression, as if sizing up Yuzuru, but he smiled lightly, accepting the handshake almost gratefully.

He was very cute, Yuzuru remembered thinking to himself, but he didn’t think of much else, because the sound in the rink seemed to die out as Yuzuru watched the child pull his hand away, a thin, nearly translucent red string following after him. It was loosely wrapped around Shoma’s little finger, and on instinct, Yuzuru looked down at his own hand, eyebrows furrowing together when he noticed the same string was attached to his own pinky finger.

Neither made an effort to discuss it, and Shoma quickly looked away while Yuzuru could only marvel at the thread.

He had always thought that these sorts of things, these signs of soulmates, were just myths, and yet here he was, with a red string tied around his finger.

***

What he learned over the years, however, was that the string sometimes seemed to disappear, especially when Yuzuru was focused on something else. When he was training, he couldn’t see the thread. When he was trying to fight for a position or trying to learn a new program, Yuzuru was able to block off everything else. And the string stretched, over countries and continents, so much so that Yuzuru could be in Canada and Shoma in Japan, and when Yuzuru wasn’t focused on skating, he could still see that little red thread hanging off his finger, delicate and loose.

Despite the fact that it could weigh as a heavy burden on his mind, Yuzuru did find the string rather comforting. Because he could see everything that Shoma was doing for himself as a skater, how he was coming up in the ranks as his own man, Yuzuru found himself more drawn to the young man than he could have ever imagined.

Unsurprisingly, Shoma had grown up handsome. He had grown, not taller than Yuzuru, of course, but enough that he wasn’t so small compared to everyone else anymore (except that he was still one of the shortest men on the field). Shoma had gained a bit of confidence and a lot of sex appeal. He was powerful and artistic, and Yuzuru wasn’t sure if he had started to fall for Shoma because of his skills as a skater, or because he was simply that attractive.

It was probably a mixture of both, honestly.

After he had gotten back from practice one day, Yuzuru stole away to his bedroom and pulled out his phone, dialing Shoma’s number. It was odd, because Shoma had never mentioned the string, and Yuzuru was beginning to think that he couldn’t see what the older man did. That part was a little burdensome, then, having the weight of a soulmate against his chest and yet not being able to mention it as freely as he would have liked.

Sometimes, Yuzuru considered either telling Shoma exactly what was going on, just to see if the younger man had actually been being a coward this whole time. At others, when he needed to focus on himself and on his own career, Yuzuru also thought about cutting off contact entirely so that he would never have to think about that red string again. It couldn’t hurt him, after all, couldn’t choke him or force him to talk to Shoma. It pulled slightly, but not enough to compel anyone to action.

Yet, each time that Yuzuru heard Shoma’s soft voice, his entirely innocent and pleasant tone, Yuzuru reminded himself that he had never been the type to break the head off a dandelion without first making a wish.

“How’re you?” Shoma asked, and Yuzuru smiled in response, unconsciously twirling the red string around his finger as he sat down on his bed.

“I’m alright. Quad axel still evades me, though.”

Shoma laughed lightly, the sound airy and shy, and Yuzuru clutched at the thread harder in the hope that Shoma could feel that pull, too, that impossibly strong affection and sometimes unwanted desire to close the distance between them. The string was troublesome most of the time, but at a time like this, when Yuzuru could focus only on Shoma, it was a beautiful kind of blessing.

“I think it’ll evade everyone for a long time,” Shoma said. “But I think it’s good that you’re going for it. I’m trying to stick to what I know so I don’t break my leg.”

Nodding, Yuzuru shrugged. “Well, I’ve already broken myself multiple times, so I’ve got nothing to lose, right?”

“I guess so. But, I just hope that you’re still careful. I’d hate if you got injured again.” Shoma’s tone was still somewhat upbeat (as upbeat as Shoma could manage, of course), but it was evident that he cared, whether or not he felt closely drawn to Yuzuru because of some stupid red string or otherwise.

No matter the reason, Yuzuru was still grateful for Shoma’s attention, and he grinned, rolling onto his back. “Well, I don’t plan on breaking anything again. But if I did, then I guess you would have to help nurse me back to strength, right?”

“I wouldn’t be a very good nurse,” Shoma insisted, but he added, “I would definitely try, though.”

“That’s all I would need to get me back to full strength.” Yuzuru glanced down at his pinky finger, expression softening. He pulled at the string again, the sensation almost a phantom tug, and he waited to see if Shoma mentioned something.

Perhaps unfortunately, Shoma said nothing, but it was a good thing, too, because then Yuzuru didn’t know if he was blatantly rejecting Yuzuru or if he just had no clue about the string.

“…I should let you go,” Shoma said after a while. “It’s pretty late here.”

“Of course–” Yuzuru agreed, deciding it best to keep his bitterness to himself. He never wanted to make Shoma feel uncomfortable, even if he had to be the one to suffer for a lot longer. “Thanks for talking to me.” Smiling lightly, Yuzuru listened as Shoma thanked him the same way, and the two disconnected, Yuzuru eventually groaning and letting his phone rest against his face.

This string was going to be the death of him. It was so thin and so innocuous-looking, and yet.

And yet.

***

Shoma glanced down at his phone, then over at his hand, observing the red thread that had laced itself around his finger years ago. He hadn’t known what to think of it then, and he still didn’t, because it seemed impossible that someone as bright and spectacular as Yuzuru Hanyu was actually supposed to be destined to be with him. It didn’t seem right, and so Shoma had chosen to ignore it, and he had trained himself enough so that his heart only constricted slightly each time the string got tangled up in another one of Yuzuru’s goals or injuries. Knowing quite well that Yuzuru wanted to address it almost every time they had a private conversation, Shoma made a conscious choice to shut it down.

He couldn’t be the one to slow Yuzuru down, to tie him up any more than this string could. Shoma knew that the thread could do nothing more than inconvenience him, but he didn’t care if it threatened him, choked him, hurt him–

So long as Yuzuru could remain as bright as he was, Shoma could take the weight of everything else.

***

“You were amazing!” Yuzuru exclaimed, not even hesitating as he threw his arms around Shoma, grinning when Shoma let his head fall against Yuzuru’s chest. He was tired, obviously, after giving such a fantastic performance, but he was clearly proud of himself, because he didn’t move away from Yuzuru for a very long while.

Usually, Shoma struggled to skate clean programs. He was strong, obviously, and he did give strong performances, but they were rarely ever clean. But they were clean tonight, and Shoma knew that his scores were going to be huge, and he glanced up at Yuzuru, expression bright. He smiled, nodding emphatically when Yuzuru rubbed at his shoulders, practically shaking himself.

“Where did that come from?” Yuzuru asked softly, gently protesting when Shoma made his usual move to duck his head down so that he could hide his face in embarrassment.

“I guess I just laid it all out on the line,” Shoma muttered, and he glanced off to the side, trying to fight the light smile that threatened its way onto his lips. He wanted to be proud of himself, and more than anything, he wanted to be closer to Yuzuru, to let himself indulge just once, but he tried to keep himself at bay.

When they were so close to each other, in the quietness and joy of a moment that they had both worked for for so long, Yuzuru noticed that the string between their fingers seemed thicker and brighter and so much more real. He wanted to think that there was no way that Shoma could ignore it, and when he saw the younger man’s gaze flicker to their hands and back away, Yuzuru knew.

“…you see it, too,” he mumbled, half in shock. Shoma’s eyes widened, and he dared not look at Yuzuru, because they both knew what the result of that would be like. “How long have you been able to see it?”

“…” Closing his eyes, Shoma shrugged. “A while, I guess. We were at a competition, but I–I didn’t know what it was, I thought I was seeing something.”

Yuzuru pursed his lips together, not even angry. He wasn’t surprised, really, that Shoma could ignore something for so long, could succeed in denying it existence simply on the basis that he wouldn’t address it.

But Shoma made a move to turn away, and Yuzuru was pleasantly surprised that this troublesome string finally did him so good, almost acting as an anchor to keep the young man in place. He pulled against it, but the bright tie did not relent for once, and Yuzuru smiled innocently.

“Stuck?” he asked, and Shoma shot him a look. “I’m sorry, you deserve this. You should’ve told me, I could’ve told you, we–we could have settled this a very long time ago.” With a slow, light movement, Yuzuru reached for Shoma’s chin, tilting it upward. “Are you…alright with this?”

Even though he was glad that they were supposed to be linked, Yuzuru never wanted to make Shoma uncomfortable. But the younger man just smiled reservedly, nodding lightly.

“I’m sorry,” he said softly, and Yuzuru shook his head to dissuade his worries.

“Believe me, I understand.”

It was strange, that as soon as they gave up fighting the string, it seemed far less powerful, as if it had already done its work and was content to let the two figure out their relationship by themselves. But Yuzuru almost missed the weight against his little finger as soon as it was gone, and without even thinking, he lowered his hand, linking his pinky with Shoma’s.

“You’re going to have a hard time making me let go,” Yuzuru warned him, chuckling softly when Shoma only rolled his eyes fondly.

“I don’t think I’ll mind it.”

**Author's Note:**

> I have all my completed prompts on figure-skating-prompts.tumblr.com, but if you would like to see some specific ones here, let me know!


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